evitare Italian · revision 38347

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1279–1300, Memoriali bolognesi|origins=la vītō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /e.viˈta.re/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''evitare''' (first-person singular present èvito, first-person singular past historic evitài, past participle evitàto, auxiliary avére)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a learned word, [[bor|la|ēvītō|t=to avoid, shun]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) The Latin verb is [[m|la|vītō|t=to avoid]] with the prefix [[m|la|ex-|alt=ē-]], which here only strengthens the meaning.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(DEI|1572) The same Latin word was taken into [[fr|éviter]], recorded from 1350, and [[es|evitar]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(DEI|1572)

+

+ The origin of the simple verb is uncertain.^(DELI 1999) Walde and Hofmann explained it as “to go out of the way”, with a preverb meaning “apart”, but de Vaan objects that verbs of this type are recent and judges a link with [[la|invītus|t=unwilling]] and [[m|la|vīs|t=you want]] formally more likely: he reconstructs [[itc-pro|*wīto-|t=wanted]], from [[ine-pro|*uih₁-to-|t=wished for]].^(de Vaan 2008) Nocentini compares instead [[goh|wīt|t=far, wide]], the ancestor of [[de|weit]].^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLIO's first record is in the Memoriali bolognesi, documents copied at Bologna between 1279 and 1300, in the sense “to escape from something bad, to elude it”.^(TLIO) DELI dates the word only from Savonarola's ''De regimine'' (before 1460), and points out that the sentence of fra Giordano quoted by the Crusca, Tommaseo and the GDLI, “Non si può la divina giustizia evitare” (divine justice cannot be escaped), is a forgery.^(DELI 1999)^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)^(GDLI|5, 528) Nocentini and GRADIT date it from 1483.^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the Renaissance the verb was used of dangers and harm: Machiavelli writes of “quanti imminenti pericoli si evitavono” (how many imminent dangers were avoided).^(GDLI|5, 528)^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861) Tommaseo held it to be stronger than ''guardarsi'': one may guard against a danger even while going to meet it, whereas ''evitare'' keeps away from it; in music, to avoid a cadence was to add a dissonance to the final chord so as to change key or prolong the phrase.^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)

+

+ From keeping away from a thing or a person the verb came to mean abstaining from something (''evitare il fumo''), preventing something bad from happening, and sparing someone a trouble.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010) The reflexive ''evitarsi'' is used both of people who avoid meeting each other and of sparing oneself an effort.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026) The adjective ''evitabile'' appears before 1667 in Sforza Pallavicino, while ''inevitabile'', from Latin ''inevitabilis'', is older, from the first half of the 14th century.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1279–1300 – ''Evitare'' is recorded in the Memoriali bolognesi.^(TLIO)

+ * First half of the 14th century – ''Inevitabile'' is recorded.^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * Before 1460 – Savonarola uses the verb in ''De regimine'', DELI's first record.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1483 – The date of first record that Nocentini and GRADIT give.^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)

+ * Before 1667 – ''Evitabile'' is recorded in Sforza Pallavicino.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To [[m|en|avoid]], keep away from someone or something harmful or unpleasant: ''Da settimane evita il suo vecchio socio.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # To [[m|en|abstain]] from something, also with ''di'' and an infinitive: ''Il medico mi ha detto di evitare i dolci.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # To [[m|en|prevent]] something bad from happening: ''Una frenata improvvisa ha evitato lo scontro.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # To [[m|en|spare]] someone something: ''Ti ho evitato una lunga attesa.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # (reflexive ''evitarsi'') Of two or more people, to keep from meeting one another: ''Da quando hanno litigato, le due vicine si evitano.''^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[evitabile]]

+ * [[inevitabile]]

+ * [[evitamento]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[la|ēvītō]]

+ * [[fr|éviter]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The present is stressed on the first syllable, ''èvito''; older and poetic usage stressed the second, ''evìto''.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}